BLOG - COP15 wrap up
An overly ambitious two weeks in Copenhagen?
PiPP deputy executive director Derek Brien was in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15). Here he describes a chaotic two weeks that resulted in a less than ambitious 'non-deal'. After a heated final session, exhausted delegates passed a motion to 'take note' of the US-brokered Copenhagen Accord without formally adopting it. The pact did not have unanimous support, and the conference ended much as it had begun - with an enormous divide between the big and small economy countries. COP15 did succeed in highlighting the new face of climate change geopolitics. For the Pacific, it will be important to build on the momentum from the Copenhagen negotiations and keep the dialogue alive.OPINION PIECE - PACER Plus
Putting development first - by Wesley Morgan, Communications Officer
at the Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG).
World Bank Senior Economist for the Pacific, Dr Manjula Luthria, argues that PACER Plus could lower the economic distance between countries in the region if concerns regarding agricultural exports, labour mobility, and tariff revenue losses are adequately discussed. Here, Wesley Morgan responds, arguing that a free trade deal offers more dangers than gains for the Islands.
